Laundry hampers are commonly used in the home to collect and store laundry for later washing. The hampers disclosed in the prior art include two basic types: free-standing containers and support frame/bag designs. The free-standing containers typically are rectangular or oval in shape and are made of a hard, non-flexible material, such as plastic or wicker. With their rigid construction, these containers take up the same amount of space whether full or partially full of laundry. Thus, they are often too bulky to fit into narrow storage closets or tight spaces in a laundry room. Furthermore, because they are not collapsible they are not easily moved from one place to another. Also, storage in a small, particularly narrow space when not in use is not possible.
In response to these portability and storage restrictions, and other limitations inherent in the fixed frame hamper designs, several designs of foldable hampers have been attempted. These hampers typically include a relatively heavy metallic framework that supports a separate, generally flimsy bag that loosely hangs from the top of the framework. While appropriate for some commercial and/or large scale applications, these prior art designs have several features that make them ill-suited for use in a home environment, as well as other drawbacks.
One such folding hamper is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,286,752 to Duryee. Two U-shaped frame members including crossed legs are formed from metal tubing and positioned to overlap near their midpoints. The frame members pivot about these midpoints on bolts inserted into aligned, permanent holes in the legs. A nut tightened onto each bolt secures the connection and spacers are placed between the overlapping members to provide the fixed pivoting joint. A cooperating bag is secured to the top cross members of the frame.
This type of hamper assembly has several disadvantages. With regard to use in the home, it is too bulky for easy portability and/or storage. Furthermore, the use of a fixed joint for the legs of the frame members allows only rotational movement about a fixed axis and provides no lateral or longitudinal flexibility. Additionally, the '752 hamper provides no means for securing and/or holding open the bag adjacent the lower part of the frame. Instead, a separate platform is used at the bottom of the frame as a base to passively support the bag from below. This platform further increases the weight of the hamper, making it more difficult to move and carry, and also makes folding the hamper much more cumbersome.
Another disadvantage with the prior art collapsible hampers is that none assist the user in keeping the frame and bag open/closed during transport and handling. Rather, the frame is free to pivot between fully open and closed positions. This allows gravity to pull the hamper open while it is being carried, thereby interfering with its transport, or closed when the hamper is inadvertently tipped over.
The hamper bags per se disclosed in the prior art also suffer from several shortcomings. For example, most bags typically have a rounded, undefined bottom that cannot be attached to the support frame so as to be assured of being held open along their full depth. A prior art bag with this design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,369,584 to Faccio, et. al.
A significant improvement over the prior art hampers and bags is provided by the Applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/379,244, filed on Jan. 25, 1995. This application discloses a hamper assembly that includes a light weight tubular frame that resiliently pivots about elastomeric rings. The mating hamper bag includes bottom support loops that are secured to the collapsible hamper frame to hold open the bag. While these support loops assure that the bottom of the bag is held open when the frame is in an open position, they also close the bottom of the bag when the frame is folded closed. In this manner, a portion of the available storage space in the closed position is eliminated.
Thus, there is a need identified for a collapsible/portable hamper assembly for holding laundry or other articles that provides a pivoting frame and a mating bag that cooperates with the frame to maximize holding capacity along its full depth and to provide a latching feature that secures the assembly in an open position.